pjbooks Chapter 37 Heroes Appear
Chapter 37 Heroes Appear
"Damn it, where did these apostles come from?!"
Inside the Awakened Ones Administration Bureau in the capital, Chu Tianxiong, the current commander-in-chief, had a furrowed brow.
Before him was a huge screen projection, with countless red dots appearing in every corner of the city—those were the presence of the Apostles.
The Apostles, who have been almost completely silent for three hundred years, seem to be exceptionally low-key compared to the demons. However, this sudden change has put the entire Awakener Administration Bureau in a very passive position.
The number of Apostles was beyond imagination. Chu Tianxiong had mobilized as many Awakened as possible, but... was it really enough?
A deep gloom hung over his heart.
Meanwhile, when news of the apostles' arrival exploded online, people initially thought it was a prank.
But soon, the overwhelming videos and live streams silenced everyone.
Within minutes, a live broadcast room called "Beijing Live" attracted millions of viewers. The anchor was Lin Xiaoyu, an intern reporter from Beijing TV. She stood on the rooftop of a residential building, her phone camera pointed at the desolate wasteland in the north of the city.
The screen shook violently, but everyone could see it clearly—
Five thirty-meter-tall black giants moved slowly, their blood-red eyes like floating blood moons. Beneath them, countless five-meter-tall gray apostles surged toward the city like a tide. The distant horizon was covered with black ice flowers, which fell silently, corroding buildings with charred holes the moment they touched them.
"Dear viewers, I am currently in the northern part of the capital city, and I am bringing you a live broadcast of the arrival of the apostles."
Lin Xiaoyu's voice trembled. The camera panned across the street, where corpses lay scattered about—ordinary people in pajamas, and Awakened beings in combat uniforms. A bus was pierced through by the claws of an Angel, its passengers...
She didn't dare to take a picture.
The comments section went crazy.
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, is this real???"
"Those giants are heading towards the city center! My house is right over there!!!"
"Where are the Awakened Ones? Where are the people from the Bureau of Heterodox Measures?! Why isn't anyone stopping them?!"
"I saw them in the east of the city too! They're everywhere! Oh no, oh no, oh no!"
"Mom, I'm scared..."
Lin Xiaoyu zoomed out, focusing the camera on the battle in the wasteland.
Several figures moved among the apostles; they were the awakened ones from the capital.
Flames, lightning, and wind blades exploded under the gloomy sky, each strike capable of killing several gray apostles. But there were just too many of them; after one wave was wiped out, two more waves would emerge from the ice flowers.
A fire-type awakener fought against three apostles at the same time. The flames burned two of them to ashes, but the third pounced from behind, its claws piercing through his abdomen.
He collapsed.
A few seconds later, he struggled to his feet again, covered in blood, still unleashing flames. Until the fourth apostle bit through his neck.
"Zhao Lei!!!"
Lin Xiaoyu called out that name. She knew him; a Rank B fire-type awakener, twenty-six years old, whose wife was four months pregnant.
The comments section was quiet for a moment, then flooded in:
"What's his name? Zhao Lei? Remember that name..."
"I cried. They could have run away."
"Damn it, why did these apostles arrive today? They've been quiet for three hundred years!"
"These are the Awakened Ones, these are our protectors!!"
"But he's dead!! What good is his death?! The apostle is still here!!!"
Yes, the apostles are still here.
More Awakened Ones fell. A female Awakened One of the Wind element had her wings torn apart by the claws of an Apostle and fell from mid-air; an Awakened One of the Ice element managed to freeze three Apostles with all her might, but was pierced through the heart from behind by a fourth; a young man who looked no more than twenty years old jumped into the burning ruins with an Apostle in his arms after exhausting his spiritual power.
Lin Xiaoyu's vision was blurred by tears. She squatted on the edge of the rooftop, pointing her camera at the collapsing buildings.
A residential building collapsed under the giant's foot, sending plumes of smoke and dust billowing into the sky. A few seconds later, faint cries could be heard from within the smoke and dust, before being drowned out by the sounds of further collapse.
The comments section completely spiraled out of control.
"Holy crap!!! What are those giants doing?! They're trampling on residential buildings!!!"
"Isn't anyone going to do something about this?! Are all the Awakened ones dead?!"
"It's not that the Awakened Ones aren't working hard enough, it's just that there are too many Apostles; we simply can't kill them all!"
"Humanity nearly went extinct three hundred years ago. Is history about to repeat itself?"
"I don't want to die, I'm only seventeen."
"Stop talking upstairs. I can see the apostles from here too. I'm in the south of the city, and I feel like I'm just waiting to die. My dad went out to fight the apostles, and I haven't heard from him since."
Lin Xiaoyu stood up and pointed the camera at the sky.
In the sky, the crack continued to widen. Black ice flowers poured down from it, each one carrying the chill of death. Deep within the crack, more could be vaguely seen writhing and descending.
"Dear viewers..."
Her voice suddenly became calm, so calm that it didn't sound like someone standing in hell.
"I don't know if this will be my last live stream. But if it is, I hope someone will remember today."
"My name is Lin Xiaoyu, I'm 23 years old, and I'm an intern reporter at Beijing TV. My parents are waiting for me to come home for the Chinese New Year in Jiangnan Province."
Her tears finally broke free.
"Dad, Mom, I'm sorry, I can't come back this year."
The chat fell silent.
Then, a comment slowly floated by:
Is humanity really doomed?
No one refuted.
Because everyone is asking the same question in their mind.
In the distance, a thirty-meter-tall apostle raised its right foot and walked towards Lin Xiaoyu's direction. Its blood-red eyes were facing the camera.
Lin Xiaoyu stood still, without running.
Her legs were shaking, her hands were shaking, and her body, trembling with fear, was unable to run away.
"Dad, Mom."
She said softly.
"My daughter is unfilial."
The apostle raised his feet to the highest point.
The comments section exploded at that moment, but no one cared about the content anymore.
However, it was at this time that
A beam of white light descended from the sky.
The light was so bright that Lin Xiaoyu had to close her eyes. It carried an indescribable power.
It wasn't the cold, deathly oppression of an apostle, but a pure, almost otherworldly pressure.
The white light struck the apostle.
There was no explosion. There was no sound.
When Lin Xiaoyu opened her eyes again, the apostle had vanished. The thirty-meter-tall black giant had left not even ashes behind.
On the ground, there is only a huge crater with a diameter of several hundred meters.
After a ten-second silence, the comments section erupted.
"What was that just now?!?"
"Where is the apostle?! Where is such a big apostle?!"
"A white light! A white light! Did anyone see it?!"
"Who is it? Which awakened one?!"
Lin Xiaoyu raised her head and looked in the direction from which the white light came.
The crack in the sky was still there, but there was now a person in front of it.
He hovered hundreds of meters in the air, wearing a school uniform, and looked no more than seventeen or eighteen years old. He just hung there, without any fluctuation of spiritual energy, his expression as calm as if he were watching an insignificant farce.